The practice of environmental education at the Penang’s Teachers Training Institute

Cross-curriculum environmental education (EnE) had been implemented since 1996 in Malaysia’s national education. The objective of the EnE was to give rise to an environmentally friendly and caring society capable of setting the country towards a sustainable future. The question arises as to the actual extent school teachers are committed to implement the EnE through out the teaching and learning process. This study seeks to answer this question with regard to the January 2010 intake of trainees at the Penang’s Teachers Training Institute. The specific aim was to examine the relationship of knowledge with practice according to gender. Statistical analyses of the confidence in the EnE instrumentation of the trainees’ environmental practice registered a Cronbach Alpha value of 0.819. Further t-tests found significant differences between genders with respect to the trainees’ level of environmental knowledge and practice. The findings point to the need for a more comprehensive study involving the utilisation of qualitative methods and the examination of factors such as teachers’ efficacy and previous experience as well as their attitude towards the practice of EnE.